(CNN) – A Louisiana mom, running for office for the first time, thought about taking her kindergartner and her 1½-year-old along with her on the campaign trail. But she realized that probably wouldn’t work.
So, Morgan Lamandre asked the board that oversees election rules if she could use political donations to cover child care expenses that wouldn’t exist if she weren’t running. Those might include times she’s headlining a fundraiser and her husband is with her or traveling for work.
Candidates in other states, particularly mothers, have made similar bids this year and won.
Not only was Lamandre’s request rejected, but the response she got reflected “some veiled sexism” and perhaps an outdated take on politics and the American family, the 35-year-old attorney told CNN.
“Child care … should come before public office or anything else,” Lamandre was told by 76-year-old board member Charles Emile “Peppi” Bruneau Jr., a retired legislator who steered the debate before the matter was denied, 5-2.
“Life is full of choices, and that’s one of them,” Bruneau said, according to the official recording of the November 16 board meeting. “Nobody forces you to run for public office. But you have a child, and that is your primary responsibility, to provide for that child.
“I don’t think you need to be raising money to run for an office to do that,” he continued. “I just think it’s a misplaced priority.”
Bruneau, a grandfather who recalled his experience in the 1970s as a state lawmaker with small kids, also pressed Lamandre on her appreciation for the demands of the Legislature, asking, “If you get elected, are you going to quit your regular job?”
To Lamandre, a lawyer in Baton Rouge for a nonprofit that serves sexual assault survivors, the line of questioning exposed a bias rooted in old stereotypes but still in play today.
“I still don’t think men have the same barriers as women to running because maybe the women in their lives just pick up” parenting obligations, she said.
‘An important bridge to cross’
Already, Lamandre’s case has spurred a push among Louisiana lawmakers to write an allowance for child care expenses into state election law.
“Having kids doesn’t ‘disqualify’ you from serving when we’re constantly making decisions (affecting) families w/ small kids,” tweeted state Sen. J.P. Morrell, along with an image of himself and his young son, Alexander, at a statehouse dais, with the note, “Due to my wife being in Nursing School, my kids were underfoot EVERYWHERE during last session.”
The episode follows similar requests in at least six states from mothers hoping to use political contributions to hire sitters while they worked to get elected. In those cases, opponents echoed arguments similar to Bruneau’s, along with fears of broad fiscal abuse. Bruneau did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.
But candidates and advocates, who already are beyond the midterms and looking ahead to 2020, say allowing campaign dollars to be spent for child care directly related to campaign work is critical to making sure elected bodies more closely reflect their constituencies.
“This is an important bridge to cross because women don’t feel like the opportunity is there for them because they have a family, they have responsibilities. A lot of women feel like the door isn’t open to them,” said Danielle Noelle of Emerge America,…
